As far as avoiding things that make you feel bad sometimes, I’d recommend watching this 4 minute video:
A lot of mental health professionals I’ve come in contact with are fans of “Acceptance & Commitment Therapy”.Today I’m feeling alot better. Hoping it’s not temporary.Sometimes I feel I post too much on facebook. I live alone so it’s an outlet of expression and communication. If I don’t get validation there though I feel bad. I also don’t like it when I run into a person and they tell me all the things I’ve posted on there. It’s hard to stop. Living alone sucks sometimes.
I can only speak about my own experience with depression but I don’t think it is uncommon. First don’t give up - never surrender! You will not always feel this bad, you can get better, all is temporary.
Second- Find a good doctor. Sometimes you need meds as well as talk therapy. Don’t like the doc you have get another. Pills not working? There are others to try.
Third- You need someone or something that needs you in this life. For me it was a dog. I had to get out of bed to walk and feed the dog. She loved me and saved my life for a bit of kibble. 
Fourth- Find religion. No I am not a Bible thumper. Whatever you consider your religion. Mine is a philosophy or religion that is way not the one that I was raised with. For a friend it is music or another it is the sea. Not a hobby, a way of life that you are devoted to.
You may already have some of these things. Let them work for you. Take advantage of your counselor and your talent and love of music. Your students need you.
Never surrender!
I gotta admit. I don’t get this.
I want to be physically healthy and I am not naturally inclined at my age (and with my occupation) to be physically active so I go to a gym. Its hard to get motivated to go so sometimes I hire a trainer. I guess I feel a little bit deflated by the fact that I need to have a trainer to motivate me to get to the gym and have an efficient workout but I always feel pretty good afterwards. Or is that a horrible analogy?
No, it’s pretty much that, but in a blown up way. It’s the idea that “asking for help is a weakness and a defect”, zeppelin-sized.
Note that very often people who have a problem with themselves asking for help have zero problem with others asking them for help. It’s a very poisonous bias, and one I suffer from myself (I’ve gotten much better since I realized I had it).
I don’t even think it has to be as complicated as all that. When I’m depressed I don’t want to see anyone, including my therapist, or really move my exhausted body in any way. Take a fucking shower, put on clothes, arrange transportation? What am I, superhuman?
Quasi I’m right there with you. I had control of my depression for a few good years and it’s been a constant battle for the last two. I keep starting to get my shit together and then something else knocks me on my ass. I damned near killed myself today. I tried to contact an online crisis support chat line and it was disconnected. It’s a fucking sign, right? Well, no, apparently not, because I’m still here. If only because I can’t shake the image of my husband weeping over my broken corpse. Then something unprecedented happened tonight that maybe changed things for the better, for good.
There are no easy answers. I’m not going to blow smoke up your ass. It’s an endless battle. But there are good days and bad days and there are things that help and things that don’t. The trick is finding what those are for you as an individual. You are doing things. You are having therapy and interacting with animals and doing all sorts of things to try to combat it, and in my world, it’s the trying that equals winning.
And never forget you aren’t alone.
Yeah, but taking the bus doesn’t make you feel guilty; thinking of moving so much as a finger makes you feel tired, but not guilty. Quasi is talking about feeling guilty for asking for help.
This may sound weird, but some times I remove myself from society - go out to the deep woods and talk to squirrels, birds, or even the random tree. Sometimes that clears my mind enough. At least it works for me. Please check in again, we are pulling for you.
And at the risk of a Mod Warning…
Fear Itself…err you contribute like what? Meet the Pit.
You’re using logic. Feelings like these are not reachable by logic. Anyway, feelings aren’t wrong, even if they look that way to someone else.
This: do what is necessary to take care of yourself, even (and especially) when you don’t feel like it (or when your feelings are finding reasons for you not to). Your feelings are not reliable guides to taking the best action for yourself when in this state.